


Similarities

by sisaat



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Icha Icha Series, Post-Series, Pre-Epilogue, reading porn in public, socially inept ninjas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 14:49:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4483472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisaat/pseuds/sisaat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sasuke had been told before that he was a lot like Kakashi. He hadn't believed it until he found himself reading Icha Icha Paradise in public.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Similarities

**Author's Note:**

> I had not expected to write any Naruto fanfiction. I sort-of crawled back to the fandom after years of absences and somehow THIS is what I chose to write.

Sasuke flopped down to the grass in the shade of a large tree with a sigh of relief. Alone at last.

 

Even before he left Konoha, he had been familiar with unwanted attention when he was out in public, being the last Uchiha, labelled as a genius, and, according to some, the most eligible boy of his class—according to whose standards, he didn't know, but he thought they should review their list of priorities and make sure “find the idea of a romantic relationship palatable” is on there. It was nothing compared to the kind of attention he got _now_ , though. A lot more hostility, the occasional weird admiration and, of course, still some awkward attempts at flirting. He leaned back against the tree trunk and closed his eyes, enjoying a rare moment of peace and quiet.

 

It wasn't often that both Sakura and Naruto were too busy to drag him around and he could get a moment to himself away from the stares. It had been only two weeks since his return to Konoha and neither of them wanted to let him out of their sight. Not because they didn't trust him—those two were too quick to forgive for their own good—but because, as they put it, they had spend so long apart that they needed to make up for lost time. Sasuke could appreciate the sentiment, but their clinginess was exhausting and involved a lot of being hanging out in public places where people stared and whispered. Not just at him; his companions attracted their fair share of attention. Sasuke enjoyed their company, but in small doses. He needed his alone time.

 

But he wasn't as alone as he first thought. The awareness of a second presence came gradually and at first he didn't move, didn't let the other know they had been found out, no matter how much he wanted to open his eyes and _look_. The tension bled out of him to be replaced with mild annoyance when he recognized the chakra signature of his unwanted companion. The sound of a page flipping confirmed his identity. He looked up to where a silver-haired man lounged on a branch with a familiar orange book in his hands.

 

“What are you doing here,” he asked his former sensei. The other didn't look up from his book.

 

“Hiding.”

 

Sasuke snorted. “From who?”

 

“From what. Paperwork.”

 

Sasuke smirked and let the silence return. At least one point in Kakashi's favour is that he didn't treat silence like an enemy that had to be defeated. He was an undemanding conversation partner. Sasuke wished his teammates had taken _that_ as a valuable lesson.

 

As enjoyable as his moment of quiet companionship with his lazy-sensei-turned-lazy-hokage was, he—grudgingly—accepted to meet up with Naruto for some afternoon training and he would soon have to go. He sighed and glanced resentfully in the direction of the more populate area of Konoha, where the staring and the whispering would start again. He was supposed to meet Naruto at the bridge where Team 7 used to meet up, because the boy was a nostalgic fool. He was contemplating the value of being late to make sure he wouldn't have to wait when Kakashi jumped down next to him and stretched.

 

“Done avoiding your paperwork, _hokage-sama?_ ” Sasuke asked with a smirk. Instead of answering the question, Kakashi handed him his orange book.

 

“Here,” he said as if this was in any way normal and expected. Sasuke stared at it in mild horror.

 

“What?”

 

“Take it. You'll be surprise to learn how little people care about anything else you're doing or have done when they see you reading porn in public. Give them something else to stare at and talk about.”

 

Maybe that was true, but then they would be staring at him for reading _porn_ and he didn't know that this was better. Kakashi shrugged and dropped the book into his lap when Sasuke still made no move to take it. He disappeared in a puff of smoke before the Uchiha could chuck it at his head.

 

* * *

 

 Naruto was _late_. He couldn't really blame the boy, since his army of kage bunshin was in high demand right now as they were rebuilding Konoha, but it still meant that Sasuke had to spend even more time alone on the bridge, ignoring everyone who walked by. With an erotic novel hidden in his shirt, no less So far, three different people had approached him to let him know their opinion on all of his life choices—including some he hadn't actually made—and one other, blushing and stuttering, to give him a box of chocolates. That last one had burst into tears when he said, bluntly, that he didn't like sweets. Years as a missing-nin had not made him more tactful.

 

When an arrogant-looking older chunin with greying hair strode toward him with an angry expression, Sasuke gave up. He gave in. He whipped out Icha Icha Paradise, opened it at a random page, and stared down at the words intently. The chunin faltered in his steps. He gaped at the orange cover.

 

“Uchiha,” he said at last.

 

“Hm?” Sasuke didn't look up from his book. He tried to sounded as bored and disinterested as Kakashi, but he had a hard time keeping the mortification off his face. His lips twitched. This would be easier if he had something to hide his face. He halted this train of thought before he could follow it to its logical conclusion. There were only so many habits he was willing to borrow from his former sensei. It would help with the _other_ kind of staring, though...

 

“You're reading... porn.”

 

“Yes.” He flipped a page after his eyes landed on the term “throbbing manhood” for the second time. That was two times too many. The chunin huffed and stalked off. Sasuke stifled a sigh of relief.

 

* * *

 

 Naruto's outraged screams when he finally showed up and saw what he was reading made the whole thing entirely worth it.

 

* * *

 

 The book had other perks—and Sasuke didn't mean the many mentions of “perky nipples”. Having your nose in a book allowed you to get away with being a lot less involved in conversations. The people who were talking to you weren't necessarily _happy_ about it, but they expected less from you. That was good. Naruto was able to prattle on indefinitely without any input from Sasuke, anyway. Once, he ripped the book out of his hand with a yelled “Pay attention to me, bastard!” but that was good too. Arguing with Naruto felt a lot like home and Sasuke enjoyed how flustered he got over his choice of reading material, with screams of “pervert” and “turning into Kaka-sensei”.

 

Sasuke didn't think he was becoming more like their sensei. Rather, he had always been a lot like their sensei. He had heard that before, from older shinobi, but he had never believed it until he was offered the infamous orange book. No matter how much Kakashi tried to teach them to look underneath the underneath, Team 7 had taken a lot of his quirks at face value.

 

They thought Kakashi read porn all the time because he was a pervert and so addicted to porn that he had to read it even when talking to others. They didn't realize how great a prop the orange book was for a socially inept introverted shinobi who knew the value of being underestimated and who liked infuriating people. Even though they _knew_ their sensei was a socially inept introverted shinobi who knew the value of being underestimated and who liked infuriating people.

 

Sasuke was starting to understand. Without a book to read—or pretend to be reading—he wouldn't be able to sit in silence next to Sakura as she reviewed some medical diagram and scribbled in her little red notebooks. She was busy, but she would feel the need to talk to him as if he might risk getting bored from lack of interaction. For all of her claims to love him, she didn't always _understand_ him. He could appreciate her company a lot easier without the awkwardness of trying to hold a decent conversation.

 

“I have to go back to the hospital now,” Sakura said after a while, closing her book and putting away her writing material. Sasuke looked up from his book and smiled at her.

 

“Alright. I'll see you later.”

 

Sakura stared at him like he had done something greatly unexpected.

 

“You know, you've been a lot less...” She trailed off and he had a feeling she was trying to find a good way to say 'less Sasuke-like' without actually saying it. “Less irritable. You seem happier.”

 

“I... guess I am.”

 

“Please tell me it's not that... book that's making you happy,” she said with a scowl and a blush. He smirked at her.

 

“What if it is?”

 

She huffed, clutched her book to her chest, stood up and stomped away. She only made it a few steps before she turned to look back at him with a smile.

 

“Thank you for keeping me company. It's been nice.”

 

“Yeah. It has.”

 

Once she left, he was alone at the training ground. He could go back to training, he supposed, but he had been training for a long time before Sakura joined him here. He still had a few hours before he was expected at the hokage tower to meet with Kakashi, who, since the end of the war, had picked up the shocking habit of being _on time_ —to keep them on their toes, he claimed. Thinking of his former sensei, Sasuke looked down at the book he was still holding. He could...

 

Biting his lip in embarrassment, Sasuke flipped to the first page and for the first time in the week since he had acquired the book, he started to _read_ _it_.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything in a really long time, so sorry if the writing is awkward or choppy. I should maybe start writing again, but I'm uninspired. Heh.
> 
> If anyone feels like following me on tumblr, my personal blog is sisaat and my fandom blog is, super originally, sisaatfandom (but that one is a little neglected right now since no-one follows it)


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